Because It’s Wrong
Sometimes, the answer to, “Why can’t I do this?” must simply be, “Because it’s wrong.”
When did people become such weenies that they became afraid to say this? I think it might have happened around the same time that parents stopped using the final argument, “Because I said so.”
As our society has slid farther and farther down the secular humanist hole, where the hard lines between right and wrong have become so skillfully blurred, we’ve all succumbed to rationalizing our choices. By the time we are 25 years old we’ve bent so many rules that they hardly serve any purpose anymore. The logic that you don’t need religion to define right and wrong is so pervasive that it makes Biblical teachings feel too obsolete to pay attention to. After all, if you never teach your children the Ten Commandments, even as the Ten Suggestions, why should you be surprised that they grow up clueless, lawless, and lost?
We can justify “cheating” on our taxes because the corrupt government is unlawfully usurping our hard-earned income and spending it on programs and nest feathering that we disapprove of. We can justify padding insurance claims because we pay so much on premiums that we cannot afford to pay for the daily fixes with what is left, much less the more major catastrophes. We can deny people their freedom of choice because we convince ourselves that the new mandates are “for the greater good.”
If there is something to gain or something to avoid, humans can usually find or create a feasible sounding excuse to change the meaning of the rule to suit our purposes. We all have done it to a greater or lesser degree. And if there is some sort of perversion that we don’t want to prosecute we can diminish its importance by claiming that we’ve been instructed not to judge others.
The truth is, sometimes we are born with, or led to develop certain harmful or even malevolent proclivities. Then we use the excuse, “I couldn’t help it.” But God also gave us free will and instructions that enable us not to act upon those inclinations. It comes down to a matter of choice. Personally, I don’t know anyone so perfect he/she can afford to throw stones. That’s why we are gifted with grace, compassion, and forgiveness. It’s a tough balance to achieve. But we can have love and compassion without condoning or actively enabling.
The ground we stand upon is a giant Chess Board with intersecting lines drawn all over it. Why shouldn’t I do this? Because it is WRONG. God says so. Mom says so. It’s just plain WRONG and it is a hard line with painful consequences if you cross it. Period.
I am reminded of the song by The Monkees: “But today there is no day or night. Today there is no dark or light. Today there is no black or white. Only shades of gray.”
That song, “Shades of Gray,” was not meant to be a declaration of freedom from judgments of wrong or right, but a song of loss and sorrow for the lack of resolve to see it.
My advice is simple. Equip yourself and your children with a fighting chance to make sense of the world by studying the Bible. Use that as a starting point and expand from there. If you’re not Christian, the Old Testament forms the basis, anyway. You or your children may not strictly adhere to it as you grow in experience, but it gives you a foundation to go back to when you need a reset, when you are confused, lost, or simply questioning. As you seek answers, it will fill you with a lifetime of questions, and questions are the basis of “science.”. It IS the basis for our country’s Judeo-Christian founding. All of our law and society, imperfect as it is, is based on that, whether or not you choose to admit it. This is historical fact. Use it. It costs you nothing but time and consideration.